CloseGitmo.net organizer Andrés Thomas Conteris on day 61 of his fast in solidarity with hunger striking prisoners in Guantánamo and Pelican Bay will undergo a nasogastric feeding in front of the White House on Friday, September 6 at noon. Conteris will underscore the brutality of force-feeding, to which dozens of men at Guantanamo have been subjected since a new hunger strike began last February, and which California officials have threatened for hunger striking prisoners in Pelican Bay protesting the use of extended solitary confinement in US prisons. The American Medical Association, the United Nations, and Senators John McCain and Diane Feinstein have all condemned force-feeding.

The tube feeding of Conteris, administered by a medical professional, will be webcast live at http://closegitmo.net .

"Force-feeding is torture," says Conteris, a 52-year-old man from California who has lost 50lbs since starting his strike on July 8th,, when Pelican Bay inmates started theirs. "I wish to make visible what the U.S. government is perpetrating against prisoners in Guantánamo and what the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is threatening for hunger strikers in Pelican Bay. The only way to end the hunger strikes and force-feeding is to shutter the Gitmo prison and respond favorably to the demands of the prisoners in California."

The rally comes on the second day of the trial of Diane Wilson at the DC District Court (500 Indiana Ave., NW). On June 26, day 57 of her solidarity hunger strike, Wilson was arrested protesting Guantanamo and Pelican Bay by allegedly scaling the White House fence. The rally will feature updates on the situations at Guantanamo and at Pelican Bay

CloseGitmo.net is a coalition working to close Guantanamo and oppose torture, including the use of extended solitary confinement. For more information about the event or to interview Conteris or other participating organizationss contact: Andrés Conteris 202-232-1999; andres@CloseGitmo.net and Medea Benjamin - 415-235-6517 medea.benjamin@gmail.com.

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Tom-Joad-like, celebrity chef and Spanish immigrant José Andrés has opened a pop-up kitchen in D.C. to help feed thousands of federal workers being stiffed by the Man-Baby-In-Chief. Andrés' non-profit World Central Kitchen, which has fed millions of disaster victims in Puerto Rico and around the globe, served almost 10,000 meals in two days, with long lines of tearful, angry people grateful for a hot meal. Andrés' homespun, humane mantra: "What's good for you, must be good for all."

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